Friday 30th April 2021

Undaunted by the lack of water and a very cold easterly wind five of us tackled up at Kinkell Fishings on Friday 30th April. My setup was the Loop SX 13’3″ 8wt paired with the Evotec G4 and a Loop Tactical SDS line and a range of tips. Some of our team opting immediately for the trout rod others like myself determined to persevere with some light salmon setups. Despite conditions being against us I could not help but be impressed by the absolute beauty of the surroundings and stretches of water in the heart of Strathearn. The beat comprises 32 named pools, providing an exceptional variety of fly water but at certain heights of water, spinning is allowed.

The beat is split into the Upper and Lower sections, with 16 pools on each. These are fished by 8 rods on a rotational basis with 4 rods on each beat. The Ghillie Sandy freely shared his 20 years of knowledge and experience of this beat at every chance and could not have been more helpful and at time appeared almost ‘apologetic’ for the low water conditions.

Having split into two ‘teams’ we fished the upper and lower beats respectfully before switching at lunchtime when experiences, stories and ‘moans’ were shared. I think that the overriding common comments were that this was a stunning beat and held many great pools and runs – if ONLY we had about 12-14″ more water!

Conditions throughout the day ranged from blazing sunshine to hailstones and a freezing north east wind and despite this we gave it everything. Some switched to trout setups at lunchtime with some success whilst die hards like myself persisted with the salmon gear plumbing the depths of any of the deeper pools with a range of flies. and tips to no avail. Some of the pools and runs on the far bank just screamed that they would produce a ‘tug’ despite the low water.

Packing up and admiring all of the flies, photos and malts in the fishing hut I could not help reflecting on the challenging but thoroughly enjoyable day I had experienced, noting that this was a beat that definitely warranted further visits when conditions improved. Thank you to Michael, Pat, Kevin, John and of course Sandy (Ghillie) for making this a fabulous day . “I’ll be back…”